Medium-large Tomato, indeterminate habit, Cherokee Purple seem to be quite problem-prone, BUT the taste makes up for everything. These are my "number two" for taste after Brandywine. Fruit are large, beafy, blood-red colour with green shoulders; quite prone to odd-shaped fruit, and tending to suffer from sun-scald. In consequence I view them as better left as a late-season Tomato.

Plants spread very large if left unmanaged, so planting is only one row to a bed, and plants definitely need caging or staking.

In the 2007 season, these were the first to be afflicted by Blight, which they then successfully spread to other nearby plants. Yet another reason for ensuring that they mature late in the season.

Flavour is a strong, almost salty taste; these would probably be wonderful as sun-dried slices. (I'll give that a try as soon as I have the opportunity!) The fruit is very solid -- not a lot of holes and seed. Picking early and allowing them to ripen on the window-sill seems to do no harm, though.

SummerSeason09#

6 plants, partially shaded by the large Nectarine tree; no compost, though the bed was in reasonably good condition when they were transplanted. Fairly slow growth, but then so is everything due to mostly overcast days.

07-Mar-09

More drought, and a blazingly hot week. Along with other black/purple TomatoVarieties, these plants seem to be handling the drought better than other colours.